Love vast as the ocean
O God,
The light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you: Help us so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 2019)
Romans 5:1-5 NRSV
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Chrysostom
Consider how great the things to come are, when we can rejoice even at things which appear to be distressful . . . Sufferings are in themselves a good thing, insofar as they prepare us for endurance.
(Homilies on Romans)
The Holy Spirit is the divine Agent who expresses to a believer the love of God, that is, God’s love for him. The reality of God’s love in a believer’s heart gives the assurance, even the guarantee, that the believer’s hope in God and His promise of glory is not misplaced and will not fail. This ministry of the Holy Spirit is related to His presence in believers as the seal of God and as the earnest or down payment of their inheritance in glory . . . Each believer has the Spirit of Christ in the sense that He is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.[1]
O God,
Grant that we may desire you, and desiring you seek you, and seeking you find you, and finding you be satisfied in your forever.
Amen.
(Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 2019)
Here is Love, Vast As the Ocean
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] John A. Witmer, “Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 456–457.
